Insurers Turn to Satellite Technology for Help in Managing Wildfire Risks

January 1, 2011 / 3 min read

JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 6, 2006 — Property owners living in close proximity to forests and wildlands exposed to wildfire risk — and their insurers — have reasons to be concerned.

Catastrophic wildfires cause extensive damage to property and significant disruption to the lives of property owners. In 2005, more than 8.5 million acres burned, nearly twice the 10-year average. With more people living closer to brushfire areas, which also happen to be preserves of privacy, the exposure has nearly doubled for insurers between 1970 and 2000.
From 1990 through 2003, property losses from catastrophic wildland fire exceeded $6.3 billion. The costliest event was the 1991 Oakland Hills, Calif., fire that caused property damage of $2.4 billion in inflation-adjusted 2005 dollars. The insured losses from two wildfires in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties in 2003 came to $2.2 billion.

Lightning is the most common cause of wildland fires, reported to cause nearly 80 percent of remote wildland fires in the U.S. But fires are also started, directly or indirectly, by people from cigarettes, campfires, arced power lines, arson and other means. Wildland fires spread in areas that include dense, dry brush (the fuel) and very dry weather. Areas exposed to high wind are particularly vulnerable, and remote locations with poor roads make firefighting difficult.

The combination of wind, temperature and humidity in the burn zone exacerbate wildfires. Strong winds push flames and burning embers toward new fuel sources. Blowing wind can also serve as a fuel drying source in moist areas.

The topography of a landscape — its elevation, direction and steepness of slope, and exposure to sunlight — also affects the spread of wildland fire. Certain fuels grow better under different conditions; and the amount of shade or sunlight, the temperature of an area, and moisture received by an area all determine the type of fuel available for wildland fires.

Many insurers are handling this exposure with sophisticated geographic information systems (GIS) like ISO’s FireLine™, which is able to focus on three key wildfire risk factors — fuel, slope and road access — to assess the overall hazard rating for each property, down to the street address. FireLine relies on technology, originally developed by NASA scientists, to better manage their wildfire exposures and educate home owners and businesses on brushfire hazards. This tool utilizes a combination of digital elevation models, detailed satellite images and street maps, enabling insurers to better pinpoint a property’s exposure to wildfire hazard.

Monitoring wildfire hazards is also key to insurers’ ability to identify suitable risks and price them appropriately. In 2003, when wildfires raged through a large swath of California, FireLine was able to classify nearly 98 percent of the geographic area burned as fuels. The system also identified nearly 96 percent of the residential and commercial properties affected by the fires in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties as being exposed to the wildfire hazard. Virtually all affected properties (99 percent) were within 2,500 feet of areas that FireLine had identified as heavy or medium fuels.

About ISO
ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage and reduce risk. ISO provides data, analytics and decision-support solutions to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government and human resources. Clients use ISO’s databases and services to classify and evaluate a variety of risks and detect potential fraud. In the U.S. and around the world, ISO’s services help customers protect people, property and financial assets.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com